Faculty of Graduate Studies, Interdisciplinary Studies, Dalhousie University, Halifax B3H 4R2, Canada.
School for Resources and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University, Halifax B3H 4R2, Canada.
Sci Total Environ. 2022 Nov 20;848:157614. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157614. Epub 2022 Jul 25.
Since the start of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19) pandemic in December 2019, there have been global surges of single-use plastic use. Due to the importance of personal protective equipment (PPE) and sanitation items in protecting against virus transmission and from testing, facemasks, respirators, disposable gloves and disposable wet wipes have become global staples in households and institutions. Widespread use and insufficient infrastructure, combined with improper waste management have resulted in an emerging category of litter. With widespread presence in the environment, such items pose a direct threat to wildlife as animals can interact with them in a series of ways. We examined the scope of COVID-19 pandemic-related debris, including PPE and sanitation items, on wildlife from April 2020 to December 2021. We document the geographic occurrence of incidents, debris types, and consequences of incidents that were obtained from social media searches, unpublished reports from colleagues, and reports available from the citizen science database "Birds and Debris". There were 114 unique sightings of wildlife interactions with pandemic-related debris (38 from 2020 and 76 from 2021). Within the context of this dataset, most incidents involved birds (83.3 %), while fewer affected mammals (10.5 %), invertebrates (3.5 %), fish (1.8 %), and sea turtles (0.9 %). Sightings originated in 23 countries, and consisted mostly of entanglements (42.1 %) and nest incorporations (40.4 %). We verified sightings by contacting the original observers and were able to identify replicated sightings and increase the resolution of the data collected compared with previously published results. Due to the complexities associated with global use and accessibility of digital platforms, we likely underestimate the number of animals harmed by debris. Overall, the global scope of this study demonstrates that online and social media platforms are a valuable way to collect biologically relevant citizen science data and track rapidly emerging environmental challenges.
自 2019 年 12 月严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2 （SARS-CoV-2；COVID-19）大流行开始以来，一次性塑料的使用出现了全球性增长。由于个人防护设备（PPE）和卫生用品在防止病毒传播和检测方面的重要性，口罩、呼吸器、一次性手套和一次性湿纸巾已成为家庭和机构中的全球必需品。由于广泛使用和基础设施不足，再加上废物管理不当，导致了一种新的垃圾类别。由于这些物品在环境中广泛存在，因此它们直接威胁到野生动物，因为动物可以通过一系列方式与它们相互作用。我们从 2020 年 4 月至 2021 年 12 月期间检查了野生动物身上与 COVID-19 大流行相关的碎片，包括 PPE 和卫生用品。我们从社交媒体搜索、同事未发表的报告以及公民科学数据库“鸟类和碎片”中获取的事件、碎片类型和事件后果的地理发生情况，记录了事件的地理发生情况、碎片类型和事件后果。我们记录了 114 次野生动物与大流行相关碎片相互作用的独特观察结果（2020 年有 38 次，2021 年有 76 次）。在这个数据集的范围内，大多数事件涉及鸟类（83.3％），而受影响的哺乳动物较少（10.5％），无脊椎动物（3.5％），鱼类（1.8％）和海龟（0.9％）。观察结果来自 23 个国家，主要是纠缠（42.1％）和巢纳入（40.4％）。我们通过与原始观察者联系来验证观察结果，并且能够识别重复的观察结果，并提高与以前发表的结果相比收集的数据的分辨率。由于与全球使用和数字平台的可及性相关的复杂性，我们可能低估了因碎片而受伤的动物数量。总体而言，这项全球研究的范围表明，在线和社交媒体平台是收集具有生物学意义的公民科学数据和跟踪快速出现的环境挑战的宝贵途径。
